Thanks for visiting. On a daily basis we scan Florida's major daily newspapers for significant Florida political news and punditry. We also review the editorial pages and political columnists/pundits for Florida political commentary. The papers we review include: the Miami Herald, Sun-Sentinel, Palm Beach Post, Naples News, Sarasota Herald Tribune, St Pete Times, Tampa Tribune, Orlando Sentinel, the Daytona Beach News-Journal, Tallahassee Democrat, and, occasionally, the Florida Times Union; we also review the political news blogs associated with these newspapers.

For each story, column, article or editorial we deem significant, we post at least the headline and link to the piece; the linked headline always appears in quotes. We quote the headline for two reasons: first, to allow researchers looking for the cited piece to find it (if the link has expired) by searching for the original title/headline via a commercial research service. Second, quotation of the original headline permits readers to appreciate the spin from the original piece, as opposed to our spin.

Not that we don't provide spin; we do, and plenty of it. Our perspective appears in post headlines, the subtitles within the post (in bold), and the excerpts from the linked stories we select to quote; we also occasionally provide other links and commentary about certain stories. While our bias should be immediately apparent to any reader, we nevertheless attempt to link to every article, column or editorial about Florida politics in every major online Florida newspaper.

"Since the beginning of September, a murky political committee set up by some prominent Republican strategists has been sending mailers attacking Democratic candidates in at least eight state Senate races across Florida."

And yet the group — known only as "Progressives" — claims in state filings that it has not yet raised or spent a single dime.

Democrats accuse the group of flouting Florida campaign-finance laws, which are designed to ensure voters can find out who is paying for any political advertisements. Independent legal experts agree.

"Progressives has the same mailing address as a law firm run by Tallahassee attorney Richard Coates. Coates is also the general counsel for the Republican Party of Florida."

The organization's chairman is Stafford Jones, head of the Republican Party in Alachua County. Jones also serves as an officer for a separate political group controlled by incoming Senate President Don Gaetz, who is in charge of GOP Senate campaigns.

Neither Coates nor Jones responded to repeated requests for comment.

A spokeswoman for Gaetz, R-Niceville, said he "oversees a variety of political operations related to Senate campaigns but is not involved in the day-to-day operations of this or any other outside organization."

Kristen McDonald, a spokeswoman for the Republican Party of Florida, said the party has no involvement with Progressives and has not given money to the group.

Progressives is registered with the state as an "Electioneering Communications Organization," or ECO. As such, experts say, it should be disclosing its donors and expenditures.

"Rich old buffoon longing the days of the robber barons" threatens employees with termination if Obama wins

Fred Grimm: "David Siegel, Florida’s unloved icon of wretched excess, would seem to make it easy for writers of satirical columns. He writes his own stuff."

Siegel, the Orlando timeshare mogul, just fired off an email to his 7,000 employees telling them who should get their vote, the Orlando Sentinel reported Wednesday. Because if Obama wins, they can kiss their jobs goodbye. . . .

What ought to make his edict so delicious is the accompanying recitation of the hardships he’s endured since President Barack Obama took office. “Over the past four years I have had to stop building my dream house, cut back on all of my expenses, and take my kids out of private schools. . . .”

Some dream house. Siegel and his much younger ex-model wife were erecting a 90,000-square foot, $100-million monument to garish pomposity on the shores of Lake Butler, near Orlando, before the timeshare business crashed in 2008. It was to have been the largest single-family home (along with the servant quarters) in America. (Siegel now claims that with his timeshare business back in the black, he’s resuming construction.) The Siegels’ extravagant bad taste and their “struggle” to finish their outlandish home was depicted in a satirical documentary, The Queen of Versailles, released in the summer.

"It would all be great fun, lampooning this rich old buffoon who seems to be longing the days of the robber barons. Except for that word 'old.'"

Siegel — reports of his age range from 75 to 79 — has become another prominent old cuss who’s talked (or emailed or tweeted) his way into the object of public ridicule.

We’ve had old Jack Welch, 77, tweeting a paranoid conspiracy theory about the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Old Clint Eastwood, 82, going off on a bizarre conversation with an empty chair at the Republican National Convention.

"An Israeli lawmaker visiting Century Village of West Palm Beach on Wednesday said President Obama is 'not a friend of Israel.'"

Danny Danon, the deputy speaker of Israel’s Knesset, told about 200 people at the heavily Jewish retirement community that his criticism of Obama wasn’t intended to influence the upcoming election.

Danon, who has been in the U.S. promoting a book, spoke at an Israel-themed event put on by the campaign of U.S. Rep. Allen West, R-Palm Beach Gardens, who faces Democrat Patrick Murphy in the race for congressional District 18.

“Even if you care only about the interests of the American people, you have to stand with Israel. You have to stand and support Israel. And I can tell you very clearly that President Obama was not a friend of Israel,” Danon said.

"Broward Elections Supervisor Brenda Snipes said Wednesday she yanked five ballots before they could be mailed this week to convicted felons who have been accused of voting illegally." "Elections supervisor: I'm purging those felons".

"Eight prominent [Republican] lawmakers from around the Sunshine State announced Wednesday they were banding together to form the nucleus of a new 'Religious Freedom Caucus' in the Florida Legislature."

The announcement was made via a press release by the American Religious Freedom Program (ARFP) of the Ethics and Public Policy Center, a think tank based in Washington, D.C. The release said caucuses had been launched in eight other states, and said plans were underway to establish one in each of the nation’s 50 state legislatures by the end of 2013.

"Concern is particularly intense among African-American and Hispanic voters"

"With polls showing a close race between President Barack Obama and Republican nominee Mitt Romney, a relative handful of votes either way in a battleground state like Florida or Ohio could make all the difference. The potential for disruptive crowds of observers at some precincts has sparked fears that voters may be intimidated or harassed or have their eligibility to vote challenged directly. The concern is particularly intense among African-American and Hispanic voters, who historically have suffered discrimination and were targeted anew in more recent elections, civil rights leaders say." "At polls, fears of voter suppression, intimidation".

Palm Beach ballot problem

Ashley Lopez writes that "there is no title for a section on the ballot asking voters to vote on whether to keep Fred Lewis, Barbara Pariente and Peggy Quince in their positions on the Florida Supreme Court. Palm Beach Elections Supervisor Susan Bucher said that the Arizona printing company that created the ballots is to blame. She also told reporters that titles were only meant to make the lengthy and confusing ballot easier to read. She said she didn’t really need to include the titles."